Dystopian Sci-Fi Comic Series ‘Lazarus’ is Heading to TV

It was only just announced that Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s exceptional comic series Lazarus was being developed for television, but allow us to be bold: if done properly, this thing will be huge. It’s from the same publisher as The Walking Dead, features enough intrigue and deception to make Game of Thrones feel weak in the knees, and takes place in a brutal, science fiction dystopia where the hero is a tough woman capable of kicking all of the asses. It checks all of the right boxes.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, producer Matt Tolmach and Legendary Television have snagged the rights to the series. Rucka, who is also an accomplished novelist, will pen the pilot. No network is involved yet, but considering the grim and often violent subject matter of Lazarus, AMC and FX feel like the proper candidates (if not HBO).

Lazarus takes place in an eerily recognizable future where governments have collapsed and the entire world is ruled by 16 wealthy families. In this age of plutocratic feudalism, people are either employed by one of the families or they are “waste,” who have no rights and no place in the new world order. The series focuses on the Carlyle family, who rule over the western half of what was once the United States, and their genetically modified badass-of-all-trades, Forever. As the family “Lazarus,” it’s her job to keep the Carlyles safe, doing all of the dirty work while the rest of the family plots, schemes and makes all kinds of enemies.

Lazarus is not the only adaptation of a Rucka comic currently in the works; his espionage series Queen & Country has been battling its way through Hollywood development for a few years now. And honestly, they should take their time. After totally botching the film version of Whiteout, the last thing we want to see is more of Rucka’s work so poorly translated. Lazarus should be an easy sell: pitch it as “The Hunger Games meets Game of Thrones!” and you’ll turn the right heads. And then they can reveal that this world and its characters are so much richer and better than that pitch implies.